Dog leashes are utilized by owners/operators of dogs for the safety, convenience, and health of their pets. Dogs leashes are primarily designed to control the mobility of dogs while being walked, preventing them from straying off or to direct the path in which they walk. The obvious benefits of walking dogs also include giving them an opportunity to exercise, interact with other dogs and the environment, and allowing dogs the necessary act of relieving themselves. A majority of known dog leashes are designed for the operation and control of one dog. Those leashes are disadvantageous for those owners/operators or facilities that own, or have in their custody, more than one dog that needs to be controlled while being walked.
Known dog leashes generally have a handle and one or more leashes with a clasp at the end to attach to a dog. Many owners with multiple dogs are required to buy more than one leash for their dogs and walk them with two hands, or hold all of the leashes with one hand. Those known dog leashes adaptable for multiple dogs have handles that are generally pliable, in that the handle forms around the shape of a person's hand, disadvantageously, not giving the owner/operator the ability to control certain dogs that are connected on the leash. Moreover, the leashes are generally a predetermined length and permanently coupled to the handle, not allowing for an owner/operator to attach more than one leash in correspondence to the amount of dogs he or she owned/operated. Few, if any, known dog leashes give the owner/operator the ability to control certain dogs of different weights and heights with the same handle and at the same time. Few, if any, known dog leashes have the ability for the owner/operator to interchange the number of leashes. Having that convenience is specifically advantageous for persons in the profession of walking dogs or working in an animal facility, such as shelters or veterinarian offices, that have a need for walking multiple dogs in their custody.
Known dog leashes that have one or more leashes attached to the handle generally originate at a central point, or at points so close to each other, such that it does not give the owner/operator the ability to transmit a signal to one dog on the leash without also transmitting the signal to one of the other dogs being walked. Therefore, the owner/operator must correct or control all of the dogs attached on the leash. For example, if there were more than one dog on the leash and one or more of the dogs were lagging behind or needed to be corrected, with the known prior-art leashes, an owner can only pull both dogs' leashes together, rather than only correcting the dog that needs correction. This is disadvantageous for users controlling more than one dog. It is also disadvantageous for those owners/operators that own more than one dog that are trying to efficiently walk his or her dogs and at the same time trying to correct or discipline those dogs that have not be trained, sending mixed messages to those dogs that do not need to be corrected, adjusted, or disciplined.
Although there are known dog leashes that have more than one leash, those leashes do not allow the owner to have that ability to selectively control one dog and not another. The known leashes also do not have the flexibility of interchanging leashes depending on the strength or height of the dog. Many owners/operators have dogs of different heights and strengths and those known dog leashes with multiple leashes for multiple dogs do not have the ability to adapt or adjust the leashes depending on the dog's characteristics, mixing and matching the correct leash as needed. Those known multiple dog leashes are generally sold with pre-determined lengths or a set amount of leashes, limiting the leash's ability to adapt to a growing dog and the addition or subtraction of dogs desired to be walked, which is disadvantageous to owners/operators of said dogs. Lastly, there exist known dog leashes with multiple leashes that are retractable or adaptable to certain dogs, but said leashes are generally limited to a certain amount of leashes permanently affixed on the handle, still do not give the owner/operator the ability to control certain dogs on the leash, and are generally more costly.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.